Stereophile, Absolute Sound, some of the online reviewers like 6 Moons and others and offshore mags provide good places to start your search. I find what approaches consensus on here to be more helpful and broader in perspective in the end because you actually have to defend yourself. I would say that the "professional" reviewers are only slightly less biased than the folks that post on here - it turns out we all lead pretty sheltered lives!
Latest Stereophile - Recommended Components
I wonder if it's just me or have I missed something. I received the latest Stereophile that has the latest "Recommended Components" and it seemed like the number of amps listed is very short. In fact, there seems to be a heavy emphasis on listings for turntables and CD/DVD players and a number of speakers and that's about it.